User:Vivikir/sandbox

Possible Wikipedia articles:
Area - “Water Privatization in South Africa” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatisation_in_South_Africa) or “Township (South Africa)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_(South_Africa) Sector - “Feminism in South Africa” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism_in_South_Africa) or “The History of Women’s Rights in South Africa” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women%27s_rights_in_South_Africa)

Evaluating two sources
Area Article: The article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women%27s_rihts_in_South_Africa offers a broad history of the events in South Africa that have effected the rights of women within the country. It contains a section on the history of women's rights as well as a history of the rights granted to adolescent girls. It also discusses the ways in which the rights of women and girls were threatened during periods of war, specifically Boer Wars. Though the article has a great amount of potential because of the strong framework of the piece it has multiple red flags. There is only one formal citation for the entire piece which is unacceptable for any article let alone an article of that length. Another issue with the article is the verbiage the author utilizes throughout the writing creates the tone of an opinion piece not an objective account of the history. It clearly has feminist tones and at times seems to belittle and denounce the actions of the government at times, which is not appropriate for a wikipedia page. There is a vast amount of verified, academic sources that support the statements in the article but they are not included in the piece which is a wrong that I could easily rectify, giving the entire page more academic integrity. The information in the article is up to date but there are also section that could be added such as the differing rights of white women versus women of color through South Africa's history since the apartheid had huge ramifications on the rights of women who were not white. The article is a part of multiple wikiprojsects including the, "WikiProject South Africa" and "WikiProject Feminism". Another interesting aspect of the article I learned through the talk page is that the article was originally written as a part of another Wiki Education project. If improved this article has strong connections to my area as my P.E. is a legal resource centre that aims to provide legal aid and advocacy for underserved communities across the country of South Africa. One of their specific focus areas is "Gender" which centers around the rights of gender equality and working against gender based violence, harassment and discrimination.

Sector Article: The article [] is an article that covers the different legal systems in place around the globe and their processes. It provides a history or legal systems, who they typically serve and the many iterations they take (ie. private practices, legal community clinics, ect). The page then goes on to have multiple separate sections that each focus on the legal systems and legal history of specific countries, utilizing these case studies as examples of the ways in which legal systems vary based on cultural norms evident in the country. The article uses biased language which is telling of the authors clear preference for democratic governments and legal systems that serve all people equally which does not serve the page well because it invalidates a lot of the "objective" qualifications wikipedia requires. This is an issue that could be fixed with careful editing and rephrasing because there is a great deal of objective facts also cited in the article, meaning there is great potential. The article is part of the, "WikiProject Human Rights" and rated C-Class in quality though it also has been evaluated as "high importance" which shows that it holds information that if properly and objectively conveyed would be valuable to the broader Wikipedia community. The article is connected to other wikipedia articles such as Legal clinic and legal awareness which is a positive quality because it means that it is more prominent within the thread of shared knowledge present in wikipedia. While the article does include 24 different sources which seem to be academic and wikipedia appropriate the references are not evenly spread throughout the article meaning that certain subsection need more work than others to claim academic integrity and support. Overall I think that working on this article would serve me well because it would give me a greater understanding of legal systems around the world which I could apply to my P.E. which provides legal resources and support to underserved communities. Another item I could add to the article is a sub section with a case study of the South African legal systems and history because as of now none of the countries listed as case studies are African, which is clearly a huge amount of information that is currently not included.

Possible Wikipedia articles: Area - “Water Privatization in South Africa” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatisation_in_South_Africa) or “Township (South Africa)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_(South_Africa) Sector - “Feminism in South Africa” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism_in_South_Africa) or “The History of Women’s Rights in South Africa” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women%27s_rights_in_South_Africa)

Choosing articles
I have selected the wikipedia article, History of women's rights in South Africa for my area article because I feel that understanding the history of the nations struggle for gender equality and equity is critical to my success working with women's empowerment. The article has important objective information already included however it is hidden beneath a writing style and certain qualifying verbiage that make the article less encyclopedic and sound more like a personal opinion piece. I plan to heavily edit the phrasing of the article to eliminate the biased perspective as well as add many more approved sources to give the article academic integrity. I would also love to link more related wikipedia articles to the article itself so that it becomes a more useful part of the greater WikiProject Feminism of which it is currently listed under, but not fully engaged with.

For my sectors article I have chosen to work on an article that is rather broad titled, Legal aid which discusses the different forms of legal aid an intervention around the world within the context of the many different legal systems that exist globally. Due to the articles broad nature there is a fair amount of information already included in the article however it does have a gap in information as it presents itself to be a page about global legal aid and yet none of the case study countries are from Africa. I plan to add the specific histories and information surrounding South Africa's legal system to the piece, backing the added information with more reliable and academic sources to boost the already robust references/works cited portion.

Evaluating two sources
Area Article: The article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women%27s_rihts_in_South_Africa offers a broad history of the events in South Africa that have effected the rights of women within the country. It contains a section on the history of women's rights as well as a history of the rights granted to adolescent girls. It also discusses the ways in which the rights of women and girls were threatened during periods of war, specifically Boer Wars. Though the article has a great amount of potential because of the strong framework of the piece it has multiple red flags. There is only one formal citation for the entire piece which is unacceptable for any article let alone an article of that length. Another issue with the article is the verbiage the author utilizes throughout the writing creates the tone of an opinion piece not an objective account of the history. It clearly has feminist tones and at times seems to belittle and denounce the actions of the government at times, which is not appropriate for a wikipedia page. There is a vast amount of verified, academic sources that support the statements in the article but they are not included in the piece which is a wrong that I could easily rectify, giving the entire page more academic integrity. The information in the article is up to date but there are also section that could be added such as the differing rights of white women versus women of color through South Africa's history since the apartheid had huge ramifications on the rights of women who were not white. The article is a part of multiple wikiprojsects including the, "WikiProject South Africa" and "WikiProject Feminism". Another interesting aspect of the article I learned through the talk page is that the article was originally written as a part of another Wiki Education project. If improved this article has strong connections to my area as my P.E. is a legal resource centre that aims to provide legal aid and advocacy for underserved communities across the country of South Africa. One of their specific focus areas is "Gender" which centers around the rights of gender equality and working against gender based violence, harassment and discrimination.

Sector Article: The article [] is an article that covers the different legal systems in place around the globe and their processes. It provides a history or legal systems, who they typically serve and the many iterations they take (ie. private practices, legal community clinics, ect). The page then goes on to have multiple separate sections that each focus on the legal systems and legal history of specific countries, utilizing these case studies as examples of the ways in which legal systems vary based on cultural norms evident in the country. The article uses biased language which is telling of the authors clear preference for democratic governments and legal systems that serve all people equally which does not serve the page well because it invalidates a lot of the "objective" qualifications wikipedia requires. This is an issue that could be fixed with careful editing and rephrasing because there is a great deal of objective facts also cited in the article, meaning there is great potential. The article is part of the, "WikiProject Human Rights" and rated C-Class in quality though it also has been evaluated as "high importance" which shows that it holds information that if properly and objectively conveyed would be valuable to the broader Wikipedia community. The article is connected to other wikipedia articles such as Legal clinic and legal awareness which is a positive quality because it means that it is more prominent within the thread of shared knowledge present in wikipedia. While the article does include 24 different sources which seem to be academic and wikipedia appropriate the references are not evenly spread throughout the article meaning that certain subsection need more work than others to claim academic integrity and support. Overall I think that working on this article would serve me well because it would give me a greater understanding of legal systems around the world which I could apply to my P.E. which provides legal resources and support to underserved communities. Another item I could add to the article is a sub section with a case study of the South African legal systems and history because as of now none of the countries listed as case studies are African, which is clearly a huge amount of information that is currently not included.

Summarizing and Synthesizing
Area article :

Drafts of my own additions - "Due to the patriarchal structure embedded in South Africa's cultural norms and governing bodies, women have faced adversity in the fight for equality, particularly women of color who because of the radicalized history of the country have faced even greater disadvantages." instead of the current sentence "While all women have been disadvantaged, black women have dealt with additional struggles due to apartheid."

"Women in South Africa experience high rates of sexual violence though the number of women who report such crimes is very limited and even less go to trial."

I plan to edit the entire article and strip it of it's subjective phrases to give it a more encyclopedic tone as well as add more academic sources to back the facts that are listed in the article itself. As of now there is only one reference in the entire article which is a huge red flag but there is true information in the article, so I have been primarily working on collecting sources that I can add to this article. Here is an excerpt of the original wikipedia article which I plan to edit and add sources to: "It was not until the introduction of the Constitution of Human Rights in 1996 that all women in South Africa were formally recognized as equal citizens. In this Constitution, there was a special paragraph for women, titled ‘Equality’. In this it said that in the state you may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds. Before this Bill of Rights, the struggle of the women in South Africa started as early as 1913, when women of color began to protest against having to carry identification passes (white women did not have to carry the passes). In 1918 Charlotte Maxeke started the first formal women’s organization, called the Bantu Women's League. In the 1930s and 1940s there were many mass protests, demonstrations and resistance campaigns in which women participated. Before 1943 the African National Congress (ANC) was an organization founded by men and admitted men. The struggles of women from 1913- 1943 showed that women were affected by colonialism as well. In 1943, the ANC opened its doors for women to join the ANC. In 1948 the ANC Women's League was formed and Ida Mtwana became the first female president of the League. In 1952 many South African women of color took part in the Defiance Campaign, which involved purposefully breaking apartheid laws. After that, throughout history and until the present day there have been many campaigns for their rights. Many campaigns were very successful. The women now have more rights than they have ever had before. On August 9, 1975, South African women celebrated the first South African Women's Freedom day. The holiday was organized by the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC) to commemorate the protests that began on August 9, 1913, against the identification passes that women of color had to carry. http://www.anc.org.za/content/women-and-african-national-congress-1912-1943"

^ This excerpt does have concrete facts but they are hidden behind opinion based language and have no academic founding as of now.

Sectors article: Drafts of my own additions - "South Africa is a country that has constructed and reconstructed their legal systems to mirror that of the evolving government as the country strives for true democratic practices. South Africa continues to adapt the constitution and legal practices to become more equitable as a country is not truly liberated without the rule of law serving all people equally no matter their personal background, racial profile or economic standing, an ethical grounding South Africa has not always executed.

I plan to add a section to the article of "South Africa" since as of now the article's various case studies do not include any countries from the entire continent of Africa, let alone South Africa itself which has a very unique racialized and gendered history which translate into unique legal inequities and a history of transforming legal systems/protections.

"South Africa has a two court systems, the higher court and the lower court, which work to manage constitutional law and civic cases. Additionally being that South Africa was initially colonized by Dutch and British forces who colonized indigenous people with their own practices residual traditional practices independent of the state itself are still utilized in certain rural areas. These varying systems of social organization and adjudication within the same country are known as "legal pluralism". The informal "indigenous laws" do not provide clear, consistent norms which differentiate the from social norms making it difficult to provide specifically advocacy for. However indigenous laws in South Africa also do not require professional representation thus eliminating the need for accessible formal legal aid.

To parallel the two court systems legal aid in South Africa is offered through two different tiers of lawyers, each tier corresponding to a particular court. Advocates or "barristers" serve a small fraction of the populous, working only in high courts while attorneys or "solicitors" serve those appearing in lower court - the majority of the populous. In 1969 the government of South Africa recognized a need for legal aid providers and responded by creating the South African Legal Aid Board which began it's work in 1971 and now provides the majority of legal aid throughout the country. The Legal Aid Board or "Board" has complete autonomy when establishing and alotting how legal aid is to be offered in South Africa. The "Board" strives to provide legal aid to all indigent people, qualifying indigent individuals as single individuals with an income of R600.00 a month or combined R1200.00 for married persons. If South African citizens in need of legal aid make more than these amounts they are recommended to find legal aid in a form other than state provided private counsel otherwise known as "judicare legal aid."

In accordance with the racial history of South Africa those with law degrees and the power to provide legal aid is heavily skewed towards white professional with nearly 85% of all lawyers in South Africa being white and 15% people of color. South Africa is working towards better racial representation in the field of law by creating and implementing multiple legal clinics and legal curriculum which aim to decentralize the power of legal knowledge. These clinics also strive to give legal exposure to students who otherwise may not have had the opportunity to pursue law school due to financial limitations.

More than 81% of designated legal aid funding from the state of South Africa goes towards providing criminal legal aid through the Legal Aid Board. Criminal justice is the sector with the greatest need for free legal representation in South Africa as it is often marginalized folks of color who are criminalized and cannot afford representation. Prior to the enactment of the new Constitution of South Africa which was written in 1994, 80% of all people tried as criminals went unrepresented. This is because prior to the 1994 Constitution justice in the eyes of the law was not a guaranteed right, meaning the state had no obligation to make legal representation accessible to all South Africans. However once the 1994 Constitution was written the South African government was obliged to create organizations such as the Legal Aid Board to help facilitate access to legal aid in as many forms as possible.

For those who seek assistance and are aware of their own role in the justice system, Legal Aid in South Africa is available through:


 * Uncompensated private counsel (pro bono work)
 * Candidate attorneys in rural law firms funded by the state
 * Private counsel funded by the state (judiciary)
 * Independent university law clinics
 * State funded law clinics
 * State funded justice centers (one stop legal aid centers)
 * Private specialist law firms
 * Paralegal advice offices
 * Legal insurance schemes

All of these services exist and are protected by various political actions that ensure state subsidization by the Legal Aid Board or other incentives for lawyers to do legal work at a discounted rate or often without compensation at all. Many in South Africa criticize these efforts saying that they are invaluable if not also accompanied by community outreach and legal education programs that make citizens aware of the services and the rights that are and are not secured under the South African Constitution and Bill of Rights.

For United States section:

The discussion surrounding legal aid and who is privileged to such a service has been criticized by law academics who assert that those who dominate and write the narratives of people who seek legal aid are individuals who benefit from the client narrative being one of inescapable poverty and desperation of an individual. Critiques assert that these asymmetrical, schematically constructed client profiles are required of civic legal aid programs in the capitalist framework of the United States as a tool to appeal to donors and other sources of funding. These representations and assessments of who seeks and deserves legal aid are argued to contribute to a culture of blaming the victims of poverty, as the narratives exclude the role the state and other civic stakeholders play in the creation of these client circumstances.